Beyond the ONA set which wasn't all that great. I had a chance to ask Prince questions during that tour when he was doing the NPGMC Q&A sessions and I wished I'd asked him about it because it seems like a giant gap in his released material.

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We all know the bootlegs and that's where we get our live fix but it seems strange for one of the most gifted live performers in a generation to have such a weak official live catalog. We have the SOTT film (not really live since it a lot of it was re-recorded and performed on a sound stage), the Rave Unto the Year 2000 DVD, which I like but was still not really "live", the Alladin thing which was poorly shot, was mostly rehashed stuff from the box set and had a scattershot set list. I forgot about the live at Syracuse tape but that only exists on VHS.

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When I watch the Musicolgy tour online it breaks my heart to know that no one's really ever seen it. Wouldn't we kill for a proper, official box set of live material recorded over different eras? The sort of thing that Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, KISS and the Stones do as a matter of simple business sense?

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Think of an 8 disc set with each disc dedicated to certain time period. One with the early punk/new wave shows before he hit it big (up to 1999), another with the Purple Rain/1999 big time superstar stuff, one with the Parade material and SOTT, another with Lovesexy, Batman and the Nude tour, one with the Symbol era/Emancipation shows, then maybe another one with the Musiclogy stuff encompassing the shows he did after the name changed back.

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Maybe throw in a classic aftershow DVD or CD too. I'd love to see/hear this stuff outside the scope of bootlegs and grainy You Tube videos.

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What would you guys like to see in a live compilation?

He doesn´t play by the rules, say hit -> album -> tour -> dvd.

I don't know why of course, he used to when he was with WB. PR live and Sign was released, lovesexy and nude were broadcasted on television.

There are things we don't know about, MJ never released live concerts till some years ago.

Maybe they are never happy with the outcome, maybe the want concerts to be live and that's it.

Musicology live is pretty easy to find by the way.

I'm just thinking...you mean albums! but i'm gonna post this anyway

SuperSoulFighter said:

And what is the point of reliving the same moment over and over again? I dunno, just guessing...

I dunno? People like the material? He's been doing "Mutiny", "Bambi", "She's Always in My Hair", "Something in the Water", "Xtraloveable" and a lot of old tunes so I'm not sure that argument holds. It's a giant gap in his recorded legacy at least and the live stuff he has put out has ranged from above average to dismal.

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Those "jazz cats" never had the chance either or people beating down their door to hear it. They were living on shoestring budgets and getting ripped off left and right. They weren't in driver's seat like Prince is

Also, what's he worried about as far as making a "definitive statement"? What was "Rainbow Children", "Emancipation" and even "Musicology" (REAL music by REAL musicians)? Dude practically lives to make definitive statements and be taken seriously to the edge of being worshipped. "Animal Kingdom" anyone? "Muse 2 the Pharaoh"?...Prince wrote an album called "The Truth" for crying out loud.

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I know he doesn't "play by the rules" and you raise a decent point about MJ, except Jackson didn't release new music at the pace that Prince did and his live material was more about the spectacle and choreography than the music - like a Vegas act or something.

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Think of tunes like "Days of Wild" and "Fury" that lose sooooo much in the studio. I keep thinking of KISS and Zeppelin - Pink Floyd, Rush and the Stones even - that gave their fans what they wanted and released proper live sets with great sound worthy of their legacy. It'd be nice if I had something laying around to show people on the fence how great Prince is live because they're always blown away when they see it. The Super Bowl preformance and the R&R Hall of Fame solo I know for a fact turned more than a few people around.

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I guess I'm just curious what org fans would want in the way of a live set or a box set.

I guess I'm just curious what org fans would want in the way of a live set or a box set.

It is a BIG gap. While I'm not the most knowledgeable collector, some of the things known to exist that I think would be hugely well received would be:

1. The birthday show from 1st Ave in 1984 where he does Our Destiny, Roadhouse Garden, All Day All Night & more.

2. One complete excellent sounding show from pretty much every tour.

3. A collection of especially rare performances, like covers he only has pulled out on rare occasions like More Than This and Let's Go

4. A Greatest Hits Live type of set with killer/ definitive versions of his best known songs

5. Start releasing some of the stuff already produced like the Lovesexy 1988 videodisc!

6. An after-show box set that shows off how wacky those shows can really be.

I wouldn't trust Prince to release any live material that wasn't edited and overdubbed half to death.

TheDigitalGardener said:

I wouldn't trust Prince to release any live material that wasn't edited and overdubbed half to death.

I think most artists do this to be fair...not saying its right though.

Take it folks aren't including the "live" CD that accompanied the 21 Nights Book? Having heard the boots of the shows and songs that made it on to this CD, comparing them its really obvious the tinkering and overdubbing killed the sound of these songs live!

[Edited 3/14/14 0:42am]

I think - not to state the obvious - he is a perfectionist to the extreme and maybe for him he just can't allow himself to release a live DVD of a show where he might have made a mistake (I'm sure it happens!), or one of his musicians plays something slightly wrong that we might not hear but he does. I wish he would release more live stuff though

bobzilla77 said:

I guess I'm just curious what org fans would want in the way of a live set or a box set.

3. A collection of especially rare performances, like covers he only has pulled out on rare occasions like More Than This and Let's Go

Whe did he do this one? You're tlaking about Roxy music, right?

DaveT said:

TheDigitalGardener said:

I wouldn't trust Prince to release any live material that wasn't edited and overdubbed half to death.

I think most artists do this to be fair...not saying its right though.

Take it folks aren't including the "live" CD that accompanied the 21 Nights Book? Having heard the boots of the shows and songs that made it on to this CD, comparing them its really obvious the tinkering and overdubbing killed the sound of these songs live!

[Edited 3/14/14 0:42am]

I'd forgotten about the 21 Nights one. With good reason I'd say. I think I spun it like twice and now I don't even know where it is.

[Edited 3/14/14 10:51am]

especially when you consider that he tapes every single show.

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another thing all these recordings could come in handy for is a

remasters series (yes, i'm going there again).

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CD1: Original Album

CD2: Single Edits/Extended, Bsides, Outtakes.

CD3: Entire album, but live tracks from various concerts

DVD: A complete concert from the era

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he has so many opportunities. it's so sad he doesn't want to do

any of that. :/

He was planning in 1998 to put a Jam of the Year show out on cd